Mothers Call for End to Violence

On a day many spent searching for the perfect Mother’s Day gift, a group of about 40 mothers in South-Central Los Angeles marched through their neighborhoods calling for an end to the violence that has claimed so many of their children.

Wearing T-shirts imprinted with photos of their deceased sons and daughters and holding graduation pictures of children now buried, the women marched through several neighborhoods to Harvard Park, chanting “Save our children! Save our children!”

The march is part of an effort by Charlotte Austin-Jordan, who has lost two children to gang gunfire, to encourage mothers like herself to become more involved in combating violence in their neighborhoods.

With support from the 77th Street Community Police Station, Austin-Jordan wants mothers to begin talking to young people in their neighborhoods about the pain that engulfs a family when a relative is killed.

Since January, 48 people have been killed in the 77th Street division, where Harvard Park is located. Austin-Jordan hopes one-on-one contact with the youths will make an impression.

“Gangbangers have mothers too,” she said. “We’ve tried having fathers talk to them, police talking to them, other gangbangers talking to them. We’ve never tried to get mothers to talk to them.”

The Los Angeles Police Department, too, is searching for solutions, hoping to focus the anger and pain of mothers who have lost children in a positive direction.

LAPD Capt. James Miller said the division will begin looking for ways to support the effort.

“Traditional law enforcement just isn’t having an impact,” said Miller, who during his 25 years on the force has lost four fellow officers in gang shootings.

“We have more arrests, we’re sending more people to jail, and the killings keep going up. We have to find another way to reach gang members,” Miller added.

One of the women who marched Saturday was Lanalgree Richard, whose 21-year-old son, John Edward Munson IV, was killed Jan. 7.

“He was at a stoplight in his car with a friend from North Carolina,” Richard said. “A guy walking by pulled out a gun and started shooting. Every bullet he shot hit my son.”

Another participant, Sharon Brown, said her 13-year-old son, Marquese Prude, was tutoring students at St. Andrews Recreation Center on Nov. 28 when two young men came in shooting, hitting him in the head and neck.

“He was an honor student,” Brown said. “He played every sport and still got straight A’s. He did what he was told.”

Ericka Bonilla’s fiance, Manuel Rivas, 27, was at his job in a pawnshop at the intersection of Vernon and Vermont avenues the morning of Jan. 12 when a gunman got out of a car, then shot and killed him.

“It was broad daylight--there were people everywhere,” Bonilla said. “But people are afraid to say anything.”

The march ended with a tearful ceremony in which Miller presented each woman with a carnation.

“If we prevent even one death, we can change what happens tomorrow,” he said.